CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#idessis
Marc Bernier
Marc Bernier

Reputation: 2996

How to programmatically add a custom component to Visual Studio toolbox?

I am creating an installer for a custom SSIS component that we have written. I would like to add the custom component automatically, rather than asking the user to manually add it.

I'm trying to do this with this code:

public void AddToolboxItem(string toolboxTabName, string toolBoxItemName, string toolBoxItemPath) {
  Type dteReference;
  EnvDTE.ToolBox toolBox;
  EnvDTE80.ToolBoxItem2 addedToolBoxItem;

  // Get a reference to the visual studio development environment.
  dteReference = Type.GetTypeFromProgID("VisualStudio.DTE.9.0");

  if(dteReference != null) {
    // Get a reference to the toolbox of the development environment.
    EnvDTE80.DTE2 dte = (EnvDTE80.DTE2)Activator.CreateInstance(dteReference);
    toolBox = (EnvDTE.ToolBox)dte.Windows.Item("{B1E99781-AB81-11D0-B683-00AA00A3EE26}").Object;

    // Loop through all tab pages to find the toolbox tab page that was specified
    // in the toolboxTabName parameter.
    foreach (EnvDTE80.ToolBoxTab2 toolBoxTab in toolBox.ToolBoxTabs) {

      // Is this the right toolbox?
      if(string.Compare(toolBoxTab.Name, toolboxTabName, true) == 0) {

        // First check if the component is not already in the toolbox:
        bool found = false;
        foreach(EnvDTE80.ToolBoxItem2 toolBoxItem in toolBoxTab.ToolBoxItems) {
          if (string.Compare(toolBoxItem.Name, toolBoxItemName, true) == 0) {
            found = true;
            break;
          }
        }

        // The toolbox item is not in the toolbox tab, add it:
        if (!found) {
          addedToolBoxItem = (EnvDTE80.ToolBoxItem2)toolBoxTab.ToolBoxItems.Add(
            toolBoxItemName,
            toolBoxItemPath,
            EnvDTE.vsToolBoxItemFormat.vsToolBoxItemFormatDotNETComponent);
        }
        break;
      }
    }
  }
}

I can get a reference to the "Data Flow Transformations" ToolBox Tab, but adding an item fails without an exception or error.

I call this function with the parameters:

As a sanity check, I tried using the vsToolBoxItemFormatDotNETComponent enumeration as Add()'s third parameter. This causes Add to return a valid object (ie, success), but the new item does not appear on the tool box. I suspect there is some sort of 'save' operation that may be necessary (even if I get the Add() to work properly).

Is there any way to programmatically add a SSIS component to the toolbox?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1976

Answers (1)

user756519
user756519

Reputation:

Same question can also be found in the MSDN forums and it has been answered there by an MVP, Moderator. I am pasting the link to the answer provided in MSDN forums so that others stumbling on this question can know what the answer is.

Programmatically Add an SSIS Component to the Toolbox (social.msdn.microsoft.com)

Upvotes: 3

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